Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre have announced that they will be launching a three-week festival this summer. The festival will be held in Ancoats in the Northern Quarter and will be an outdoor, undercover festival. The festival is titled HOPE FEST and will be launched in association with Electric Park, running from 16 July to 8 August.

The festival will be housed inside a large 250 capacity theatre tent, based beside New Islington Tram Station. It will include an onsite bar offering a range of local beers and an eating area including a BBQ.

HOPE FEST will feature something for everyone, with comedians, music acts and family theatre on the programme. Hope Mill Theatre will be launching FANCOATS, which will be a scheme for local residents offering ticket discounts and an invite to a one-off residents gathering, aiming to bring the community together. 

The programme will feature Matt and Phred’s music sessions, with Brazilian, Jazz, Pop and Swing some of the music that will be showcased. Other music events will feature a Jersey Boys tribute ‘The Other Guys present The Four Sea Sons’, the UK’s number one Dolly Parton tribute act Kelly O’Brien, and afrobeat rock-funk band ‘Agbeko’ will provide the music for the silent disco. 

Manchester’s own Jason Manford will take to the tent to host the Comedy Club, which will feature Yes Queens, female-led improvised comedy theatre, along with Boothby Graffoe, Elf Lyons, Mike Newall and Vince Atta. 

For families, there will the touring production of Stiles & Drewe’s Three Little Pigs the Musical and a sing-along showing of the much loved film Frozen.

There will be touring productions, film screenings and community events including Dog Fest. The Hope Mill Theatre will also see the finalists of their annual playwriting prize come together for the evening to share an excerpt of their piece to an industry panel. 

Full information including line-up details and dates can be found here.

 Further artists and shows will be announced over the coming weeks.